Culture, Capital, and Witch Hunts in Assam.

Abstract

The study looks at the interrelated factors of transition from a pre-state forest dependent economy to a social system of an agricultural economy and state society; a society where new inequalities are brought by global changes such as consumption patterns, new communication technologies and new forms of mobility, all leading to an increase in inequalities and patriarchal forces. Some outcomes of capitalist institutions, however incomplete and complex, have devastating effects for a large percentage of women in indigenous and rural populations. The objective of this study is to understand the culture and social beliefs that underlie modern-day witch hunts in Assam and to explore the specific direction of change in these cultures and belief systems at the nexus of patriarchal capitalist trajectories.